2004 Ng'ang'a enters first grade.
On opening day of the school year in
Kenya, Kimani Ng'ang'a Maruge walks 500 meters from his home to Kapkenduiyo
Primary School in Langas Estate, Eldoret, Kenya, for his first day
of school, in Standard One (first grade), which starts at 08:00. He
had to work at a neighbor's farm to get the money to buy the required
school uniform which he now wears: blue shorts, light blue shirt,
blue striped stockings, and a dark blue jacket. As the other first
graders, Ng'ang'a receives a pencil and four notebooks, one each for
math, English, Kiswahili, and general subjects. At the 12:45 end of
the school day, Ng'ang'a goes home to herd his cow and five sheep,
all that is left of a big herd decimated by disease. That gave him
the desire to become a veterinary doctor. Reporters
and photographers cover Ng'ang'a's first day in school, and it will
be appear in news media the world around the next day. They note that,
while other first graders sometimes have to sit on the ground, Ng'ang'a
is given a chair; and that he does not participate actively in the
physical education period nor in play at recess. Interviewed, Ng'ang'a
explains, in fluent Kiswahili, one reason why he is happy to be starting
school: he is a Catholic who attends Mass every Sunday, but he says
of what he hears preached: “They lie. The Bible does not say
what those people claim it says. That is why I want to know how to
read so that I can read the Bible myself and not be deceived.”
Ng'ang'a hopes eventually to complete primary school all the way through
Standard Eight. When he gets classes in Kenyan history, he should
find it his easiest subjects, especially when it comes to the Mau
Mau struggle for Kenyan independence from the British colonialists,
who tortured him after they captured him while he was fighting for
the insurgency (which was crushed 4 years before Kenya become independent
on 12 December 1963). They also shot two of his 15 children while
he was trying to escape arrest. 8 other of his children died of various
diseases, at a time when there was little or no medical assistance
to ordinary Kenyans. His wife died in 1999. Mzee
Maruge is 84. Two of his 30 grandchildren attend the same school,
Leah Njoki, 12, in Standard Six; and John Ndirima, 10, in Standard
Four. [the three walking to school together >]
Mzee Maruge is a member of the Mau Mau
Veteran’s Association, which has been promised pensions by the NARC
government, which is why Maruge wants to learn arithmetic. "When they
start paying us, I do not want any young man trying to rob me of my
money due to illiteracy," Ng’ang’a says. At one of the association’s
meetings he learned that the Government was offering free education.
"When this new Government came to power and promised to pay Mau Mau
veterans compensation, I decided to try and get educated since it
was free," he says. President Mwai
Kibaki's National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), which, in 27 December
2002 elections, defeated the Kenya African National Union (KANU) of
dictatorial leader Daniel
Toroitich arap Moi [02 Sep 1924~] (in power since the death of
Jomo
Kenyatta [1893 – 22 Aug 1978]), introduced a free primary
education scheme in January 2003. The government registered the Mau
Mau movement in November 2003, which could help surviving fighters
obtain compensation.

[
below: Ng'ang'a's first effort at writing]

2002 Eight-months pregnant Astrid Oates, 20, in riding
in a car in Devon, England, when suddenly the male driver, 38, swerves to
avoid a fox, . The car smashes through a wooden fence and one of the posts
shatters and spears Astrid through her right breast. She is trapped in the
wrecked car for over an hour before firefighters cut away a large chunk
of the stake to free her. It then takes surgeons four hours to remove a
remaining 15x2cm spear of wood lodged close to major organs. The unborn
boy, is fine and will probably be born naturally at full-term. The driver
suffers a slight shoulder injury. 2001 A report
on the fate of Raoul Wallenberg, which fails to resolve the mystery of when
he died in the Soviet gulag, is released in two parts: Swedish,
and Russian
(both PDF in English). Wallenberg was a young Swedish diplomat to Nazi Germany
who saved thousands of Jews from Hitler's gas chambers. The Soviets kidnapped
him as soon as their victorious troops entered Germany. 2000
The US Supreme Court ruled that a person's running at the sight of a police
officer could justify police conducting a stop-and-frisk search. 1999 Former US Senator Bill Bradley, D-NJ, files notice
of his presidential candidacy with the Federal Election Commission.1998 Nineteen European nations signed a treaty in Paris
opposing human cloning 1997 Two of the four female
cadets, who enrolled in The Citadel the previous fall after the South Carolina
military school lost its fight to keep women out, resign. The cadets say
that they have been assaulted and sexually harassed. 1996
Russian troops arrive in Bosnia (prematurely, for joint operation
with US, sort of) 1996 Chechen fighters holding
more than 100 hostages in the village of Pervomayskaya free about a dozen
of their captives and pledge to release the rest if four top Russian officials
take their place.

^1995 Conspiration to murder Black leader supposed murderer
of another Black leader.
Qubilah Bahiyah Shabazz, 32, the daughter of Malcolm
X, is arrested for conspiring to kill Louis Farrakhan. Shabazz
believed that Farrakhan was responsible for the assassination of her
father in 1964, and sought to exact revenge through a hired killer.
Subsequently, Shabazz admitted her "responsibility," but not her guilt
of the charges, and the government accepted a plea bargain that required
her to undergo psychiatric and drug treatment.
Michael Fitzpatrick, a high-school classmate of Shabazz, claimed that
she called him and asked him to kill Farrakhan. Fitzpatrick said she
told him that she wanted to avenge her father's death, and feared
for the life of her mother Betty Shabazz who was outspoken in her
belief that Farrakhan was behind the 1964 shooting. Although Farrakhan
was allied with the Nation
of Islam leaders who planned Malcolm X's murder, he most likely
was not directly involved in the plot. Unfortunately for Qubilah,
Fitzpatrick was already an FBI informant and promptly passed on the
information. He also began recording his conversations with Shabazz.
She escaped the most serious charges because the tapes showed some
wavering and ambivalence on her part in actually going through with
the murder. Some claim that the
whole affair was an
unbelievable FBI plot. A much-publicized reconciliation between
Farrakhan and the Shabazz family occurred after the charges were made
against Qubilah. There had been
a 30-year rift between Betty Shabazz and Farrakhan, whom Betty Shabazz
believed played a role in her husband's death. Malcolm X was assassinated
on 21 February 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. Just a week
before his death, the couple's New York City home was destroyed by
a firebomb. Malcolm X, also known as El Hagg Malik El-Shabazz, was
killed a year after breaking away from the Nation of Islam and forming
his own Muslim faction. Three gunmen, two of them members of the Nation
of Islam, were sentenced to life in prison for the Malcolm X shooting.
Two of the gunmen were released after serving 20 years in prison.
Legal and personal troubles
continued to plague the Shabazz family in the 1990s. Qubilah's 12-year-old
son Malcolm, who had been sent to live with his grandmother Betty
in Westchester County, New York, set the house on fire with gasoline
on 01 June 1997 in hopes of being reunited with his mother, Qubilah
Shabazz, who had had problems with alcohol in addition to the Farrakhan
affair. Betty Shabazz, 61, was burned on 90% of her body, and died
from her injuries on 23 June 1997. The boy was convicted of arson
and sentenced on 8 August 1997 to at least 18 months at a juvenile
center, sentence to be reviewed yearly thereafter until he turns 18.
By 03 August 1999, he had escaped three times and a judge extended
his detention to 03 August 2000.

1995
Pope John
Paul II begins visit to Southeast Asia 1995
President Clinton and congressional leaders agreed on a bailout package
that'd give Mexico as much as $40 billion in loan guarantees. Two and a
half weeks later, when Congress fails to act quickly to approve the deal,
Clinton invokes his emergency authority to loan Mexico $20 billion. 1995 Murder
trial against Orenthal James Simpson, begins in Los Angeles 1994
US President Clinton asks Attorney General Reno to appoint an independent
counsel to investigate the Whitewater affair. 1992 Algeria's
general elections: second balloting scheduled for 920115
canceled after strong gains by in the first round by Muslim fundamentalist
Front Islamique du Salut; FIS, in the first round of balloting for the National
Assembly, held in December 1991, when the FIS won 188 seats, just 28 short
of a simple majority and 99 short of the two-thirds majority needed to amend
the constitution. There seemed little doubt that the FIS would achieve a
majority in the second round. Instead, the Algerian government and army
intervened to cancel the elections, President Chadli Bendjedid having been
forced to resigne the previous day. 1991 A deeply
divided US Congress gives President George Bush the authority to wage war
in the Persian Gulf. The Senate votes 52-47 to empower Bush to use armed
forces to expel Iraq from Kuwait; the House of Representatives 250-183.
1990 Romania bans Communist party (first Warsaw
Pact member to do so) 1990 Civil Rights activist
Reverand Al Sharpton is stabbed in Bensonhurst Brooklyn 1990
Salvadoran President Alfredo Cristiani names eight soldiers, including chief
of the military academy, as suspects in the November 1989 murder of six
Jesuit priests. 1989 Idi Amin is expelled from
Zaire. 1981 -35ºF (-37ºC), Chester, Massachusetts
(state record) 1977 Anti-French demonstrations
takes place in Israel after Paris released Abu Daoud, responsible 1972 Munich
massacre of Israeli athletes 1977 US President Gerald
R. Ford's State
of the Union address. 1976 UN Security Council
votes 11-1 to seat Palestine Liberation Organization, for the debate on
the Middle East. The US casts the only dissenting vote.1971
Anti-Vietnam-War activists charged with ludicrous conspiracy Catholic
priest Father Philip F. Berrigan, serving a six-year prison term on charges
of destroying draft records, and five others, including a nun and two priests,
are indicted by a US federal grand jury on charges of conspiring to kidnap
presidential adviser Henry Kissinger and of plotting to blow up the heating
tunnels of federal buildings in Washington. The "Harrisburg Six," as they
came to be known, denied the charges and denounced them as a government
effort to destroy the peace movement. 1971
Congressional Black Caucus organizes 1970 Boeing
747 makes its maiden voyage.1966 US President Lyndon
B. Johnson's 3rd annual State
of the Union address. 1964 Sayyid Jamshid ibn
Abdullah (who had succeeded his father at his death in July 1963),
Sultan of Zanzibar and his government overthrown by a revolution
carried out by 600 armed men led by communist-trained "field marshal" John
Okello. On 10 December 1963 Zanzibar had become independent as a member
of the British Commonwealth. The insurgents proclaimed the People's Republic
of Zanzibar and Pemba, a one-party state, and won much support from the
African population. Thousands of the Arab minority were massacred in riots,
and thousands more fled the island. Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume, leader of
the Afro-Shirazi Party, was installed as president, Sheikh Abdulla Kassim
Hanga as prime minister, and Abdul Rahman Mohammed ("Babu"), leader of the
new left-wing Umma (The Masses) Party (formed by defectors from the ZNP),
became minister for defense and external affairs. Pending the establishment
of a new constitution, the cabinet and all government departments were placed
under the control of a Revolutionary Council of 30 members, which was also
vested with temporary legislative powers. The new government nationalized
of all land.

1962 In Vietnam,
US devastates environment and its own soldiers' health, with Agent
Orange.
The United States Air Force launches
Operation Ranch Hand, a "modern technological area-denial technique"
designed to expose the roads and trails used by the Viet Cong. Flying
C-123 Providers, US. personnel dumped an estimated 19 million gallons
of defoliating herbicides over 10-20 percent of Vietnam and parts
of Laos between 1962-1971. Agent Orange — named for the color
of its metal containers — was the most frequently used defoliating
herbicide. The operation succeeded in killing vegetation, but not
in stopping the Viet Cong. The use of these agents was controversial,
both during and after the war, because of the questions about long-term
ecological impacts and the effect on humans who either handled or
were sprayed by the chemicals. Beginning in the late 1970s, Vietnam
veterans began to cite the herbicides, especially Agent Orange, as
the cause of health problems ranging from skin rashes to cancer to
birth defects in their children. Similar problems, including an abnormally
high incidence of miscarriages and congenital malformations, have
been reported among the Vietnamese people who lived in the areas where
the defoliating agents were used.

1961 UN genocide pact goes into effect

^1954 US defense will rely on "massive retaliation,"
a MAD policy.
In a speech at a Council on Foreign Relations dinner in his honor,
US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles announces that the US will
protect its allies through the "deterrent of massive retaliatory power."
The policy announcement was further evidence of the Eisenhower administration's
decision to rely heavily on the nation's nuclear arsenal as the primary
means of defense against communist aggression. Dulles began his speech
by examining communist strategy that, he concluded, had as its goal
the "bankruptcy" of the United States through overextension of its
military power. Both strategically and economically, the secretary
explained, it was unwise to "permanently commit US. land forces to
Asia," to "support permanently other countries," or to "become permanently
committed to military expenditures so vast that they lead to 'practical
bankruptcy.'" Instead, he believed a new policy of "getting maximum
protection at a bearable cost" should be developed. Although Dulles
did not directly refer to nuclear weapons, it was clear that the new
policy he was describing would depend upon the "massive retaliatory
power" of such weapons to respond to future communist acts of war.
The speech was a reflection
of two of the main tenets of foreign policy under Eisenhower and Dulles.
First was the belief, particularly on the part of Dulles, that America's
foreign policy toward the communist threat had been timidly reactive
during the preceding Democratic administration of President Harry
S. Truman. Dulles consistently reiterated the need for a more proactive
and vigorous approach to rolling back the communist sphere of influence.
Second was President Eisenhower's belief that military and foreign
assistance spending had to be controlled. Eisenhower was a fiscal
conservative and believed that the US. economy and society could not
long take the strain of overwhelming defense budgets. A stronger reliance
on nuclear weapons as the backbone of America's defense answered both
concerns — atomic weapons were far more effective in terms of
threatening potential adversaries, and they were also, in the long
run, much less expensive than the costs associated with a large standing
army. Since the USSR would adopt
a similar deterrent, this would lead to the Mutually Assured Destruction
policy.

1953 9 "Jewish" physicians arrested for "terrorist activities"
in Moscow 1950 USSR re-introduces death penalty
for treason, espionage and sabotage. 1949 Dutch
court affirms death sentence against SS chief Hanns Rauter
1948 first Supermarket in UK opens. 1948
US Supreme Court decision (Sipuel vs. Oklahoma State Board of Regents)
that states may not discriminate against law-school applicants because of
race. 1948 Mohandas Mahatma Gandhi begins his
final fast 1945 German forces in Belgium retreat
in Battle of the Bulge (441216-19450116), the last German offensive on the
Western Front during World War II; an unsuccessful attempt to push the Allies
back from German home territory.1945 During World
War II, Soviet forces begin a huge offensive against the Germans in Eastern
Europe. 1944 Churchill and de Gaulle begin a 2-day
wartime conference in Marrakesh.

^1943 Soviets make a temporary crack in the siege of
Leningrad Soviet
troops create a breach in the German siege of Leningrad, which had
lasted for a year and a half. The Soviet forces punched a hole in
the siege, which ruptured the German encirclement and allowed for
more supplies to come in along Lake Ladoga. Upon invading the Soviet
Union in June 1941, German troops made a beeline for Leningrad, the
second-largest city in the USSR. In August, German forces, approaching
from the west and south, surrounded the city and rendered the Leningrad-Moscow
railway useless. A German offensive attempted to occupy the city but
failed; in light of this, Hitler decided to impose a siege, allowing
nothing to enter or leave the former capital of Old Russia. Hitler
intended to wait the Soviets out, then raze the city to the ground
and hand the territory over to Germany's Finnish allies, who were
advancing on the city from the north. (Finland would stop short of
Leningrad, though, as it only wanted to regain territory lost to Soviet
aggression in the Winter War of 1939-1930). The siege began officially
on 08 September 1941. The people of Leningrad began building antitank
fortifications and succeeded in creating a stable defense of the city,
but they were also cut off from all access to vital resources in the
Soviet interior. In 1942, 650'000 Leningrad citizens died from starvation,
disease, exposure, and injuries suffered from the siege and the continual
German bombardment with artillery. Barges offered occasional relief
in the summer and ice-borne sleds were able to do the same in the
winter. A million sick, elderly, or especially young residents of
Leningrad were slowly and stealthily evacuated, leaving about 2 million
people to ration available food and use all open ground to plant vegetables.
A Soviet counteroffensive pushed the Germans westward on 27 January
1944 bringing the siege to an end. It had lasted for 872 days.

1943 Frankfurters replaced by Victory Sausages (mix of
meat and soy meal), in the US. 1942 British troops
reconquer Sollum 1942 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt
creates the National War Labor Board. 1933 US
Congress recognize independence Philippines 1932
France's Laval government falls 1929 Seatrain
(RR cars on ships) service begins, New Orleans-Havana 1916
Britain proclaims Gilbert and Ellice Island colony in the Pacific
1915 The US House of Representatives rejects a
proposal to give women the right to vote 1912
-47ºF (-44ºC), Washta IA (state record) 1907 Britain
grants responsible government to former colony of Transvaal
1906 first time Dow Jones closes above 100 (100.26)
1904 Southwest-Africa uprising under Samuel Maherero against German
garrison.

1879 British Zulu War begins Lt-General Chelmsford invades
Zululand. Although the January rains impeded travel and the tall grasses
of Zululand blocked their view, the invaders advanced without taking
normal precautions (such as scouts and sentries). The Zulu king Cetshwayo
had a well-disciplined army of some 50,000 men. They attacked and
annihilated the central British column at Isandhlwana, killing 800
British soldiers and taking nearly 1000 rifles with ammunition. Later,
British reinforcements arrived and Cetshwayo fled. The British met
a setback in April with the unsolicited arrival of a French prince,
Napoleon III's son, in search of adventure. He joined a British expedition,
underestimated the enemy, and was killed in a surprise attack in May.
His death was an embarrassment for the British. Their victories continued,
nevertheless. In July Cetshwayo was decisively defeated at Ulundi.
Zululand then came under informal British control. It was annexed
to Natal in 1887.

^1838 Mormon founder flees to Missouri from arrest in
Ohio After his
Mormon bank fails in the Panic of 1837, Joseph Smith flees Kirtland,
Ohio, to avoid arrest and heads for Missouri to rebuild his religious
community. A sensitive and religious-minded man since his youth, Joseph
Smith claimed the angel Moroni visited him in 1823, when he was 18
years old, and told him he was destined to become a modern prophet
of God. For four years, Smith said he made annual visits to a hill
in upstate New York where he received instructions preparing him for
his new prophetic role. In 1827, he unearthed gold tablets inscribed
in a mysterious language. Two years later, Smith created a local sensation
when he revealed his discovery and made known his plans to publish
a new volume of scripture based on his translation of the golden plates.
In March 1830, Smith published 5,000 copies of a volume he called
The Book of Mormon. More often met with outrage than belief, Smith's
revelations nonetheless took root in the spiritually fertile era of
the 1830s. Upstate New York
was already a hotbed of religious revivalism, and Smith's new Mormon
religion appealed to Americans searching for spiritual values amidst
the bustling economic growth of a rapidly expanding nation. In contrast
to the radical individualism of the lone pioneer, Mormonism stressed
the power of mutual cooperation and sacrifice for the good of the
whole. Nearly two decades later, when the Mormons established their
new theocratic state in Utah, this emphasis on cooperation would transform
a desert into one of the richest and most productive farming regions
in the West. The path to Utah, though, was long and difficult, and
Smith would not live to see the promised kingdom. Gathering his growing
band of followers in western New York, Smith made the first of a long
series of moves in search of a place where his unique vision of a
community of Latter-Day Saints could be realized.
In the 1830s, the Mormons settled in the town of Kirtland, Ohio, where
Smith founded the first Mormon-controlled bank, putting his economic
and spiritual practices to work. Unfortunately, Smith's Kirtland bank
failed during the national financial Panic of 1837, and he fled to
avoid potential criminal prosecution by angry and disillusioned former
believers, some of whom claimed he had mismanaged their investments.
The remaining faithful followed Smith to Missouri, where persecution
and rumors (true but exaggerated) that the Saints were practicing
polygamy forced them to flee again.
In 1839, Smith established the new town of Nauvoo on the sparsely
populated Illinois frontier, where he hoped the Saints would finally
be left alone. Unfortunately, continued reports of polygamy and Smith's
decision to declare himself a candidate for US. president in the spring
of 1844 inspired fierce dislike of the Mormons in Illinois as well.
In June, 1500-armed men surrounded Nauvoo, and to prevent bloodshed,
Smith and his brother Hiram agreed to be jailed in the nearby town
of Carthage. Several days later an angry mob stormed the jail and
murdered both men. Many predicted the religious community would collapse
with Smith's death, but under the leadership of his successor, Brigham
Young, the Saints regrouped and once again moved west. This time they
did not stop until they reached the shores of the Great Salt Lake
of Utah. There they laid the roots for a religious community that
continues to thrive to this day.

1836 HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin on board
reaches Sydney, Australia,1828 Boundary disputes
were settled between the United States and Mexico. 1816
France decrees Bonaparte family excluded from the country forever
1809 British take Cayenne (French Guiana) from
the French (until 1814) 1806 French evacuate Vienna.1777 The Mission Santa Clara de Asis was established.
It was one of nine missions founded by Spanish Franciscan missionary, Father
Junípero Serra, between 1769-1784. 1701
(Wednesday) The Protestant cantons of Switzerland and, in the Netherlands,
Groningen (for the 2nd time: the first was from 21 Feb 1583 to the summer
of 1594) and Friesland begin use of Gregorian calendar (yesterday there
was Tuesday 31 December 1700). 1598 Pope
Clement VIII seizes duchy of Ferrara after Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara,
had died childless 15971027. Though Spain and the empire encouraged Alfonso's
illegitimate cousin, Cesare d'Este, to withstand the pope, they were deterred
from giving him aid by threats from Heny IV of France, and the papal army
entered Ferrara almost unopposed. 1583 (Wednesday)
Holland begins use of Gregorian calendar (yesterday there was Tuesday 01
January 1583 Julian) 1493 Last day for all Jews
to leave Sicily.

2006:: 363 hajjis, in a stampede in the rush by some
600'000 persons to complete the stoning
of the devil ritual before nightfall on this, the last day of the Hajj,
at the eastern entrance of the Jamarat Bridge in Mena, Saudi Arabia, after
luggage dropped from moving buses, causing a dozen persons to stumble. Some
400 are injured. Hajj stampedes have occured several times, including one
that killed 1426 persons inside a pedestrian tunnel on 02 July 1990 and
another that killed 244at the stoning of the devil on 01 February 2004.
— (060114) 2005 Mullah sheik Mahmoud Finjan al-Madaen,
and his son, and four bodyguards, murdered in Salman Pak, Iraq,
where Finjan was the representative of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most
influential Shi'ite leader.2005 Mullah Halim al-Mohaqeq,
murdered. He worked in the Najaf, Iraq, office of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani,
the most influential Shi'ite leader.2005 Two Palestinians
killed by Israeli troops in the West Bank, in the evening.2005
Two Palestinian members of Hamas, shot by return fire from Israeli
troops on whom they shoot when the troops enter their house to arrest them,
in the West Bank village Qarwat Beni Zeit north-west of Ramallah, in the
morning.2005 Israeli Gideon Rivlin, 50, and two Islamic Jihad
terrorists who are shot after the explosion of the roadside bomb
that killed Rivlin, from the enclave settlement Ganei Tal in the Gaza Strip,
and wounded 4 Israeli soldiers in whose vehicle was riding Rivlin, who worked
for a company that installs security fences in the area. 2003
Eli Biton, 48, Israeli, and two gunmen of the
Jerusalem Brigades of Islamic Jihad who penetrate in Moshav Gadish, near
Afula at 19:00, and shoot at cars on its main road, then one is run over
by the vehicle of a Border Police commander and the other killed in a gunfight
with security forces. One civilian man and 4 members of the Israeli security
forces are wounded.2003 An Israeli, and two gunmen
of the three who shoot at him at 19:00, after crossing the border from Egypt
into the Negev, near Nitzana, and are later killed by Israeli soldiers.2003 Mohammed Kawara, 14, and Abdullah a-Najar, 19, peaceful
Palestinian boys, by missiles fired from an Israeli helicopter at an orchard
near a hospital in southeast Khan Younis, which were intended for Hamas
militants Raed al-Atar (or al-Bashar) and Mohammed Abu Shamallah (or Shali),
who were at the scene in a car but, shielded from the first missile by a
tree, managed to escape. A harmless 15-year-old Palestinian is wounded.
The Reuters body count of the al-Aqsa intifada reaches “at least”
1779 Palestinians and 695 Israelis.2003
Hazem Fanoun, 35, Palestinian who was delivering bread from his
family's bakeries, as he was turning into Beit Kahal from the Tarqumiya-Hebron
road, shot from 200 meters by Israeli civilian guards of an oil truck, which
had been fired upon by Palestinians.2003 Ziad Halil Dafi,
17, Palestinian of Islamic Jihad, by the explosion of a bomb he was preparing
in his home in the Gaza Strip.2002 Cyrus R. Vance Sr.,
84, Alzheirmer's patient, US secretary of state in the Carter administration,
who resigned in opposition to an ill-conceived attempt to rescue hostages
from Iran. [photo >] Heading the State Department was the
highlight of Vance's career, but his duties on behalf of presidents, the
Congress and the United Nations spanned more than three decades. He used
his peacemaking skills to ease conflicts in foreign lands, racially torn
US cities and even corporate boardrooms. He played a key role in normalizing
relations with China, winning approval for new Panama Canal treaties and
helping negotiate the Camp David treaty between Egypt and Israel. But Vance's
tenure also saw an expansion of Soviet influence in a number of areas, as
well as the collapse of the pro-US monarchy in Iran and the seizure of US
hostages in Tehran. When Carter approved a military operation for the rescue
of the hostages in April 1980, Vance resigned. He was right: the operation
ended in disaster. Eight US servicemen died when a Marine Corps helicopter
crashed into a plane parked at a clandestine refueling site in Iran. The
52 hostages became an issue in the 1980 presidential campaign and were held
for 444 days before their release on Ronald Reagan's inauguration day, 20
January 1985. One of Vance's most
difficult diplomatic undertakings took place long after he left the State
Department, when U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar asked him
in 1991 to try to end the war in the former Yugoslavia. He helped achieve
a cease fire in Croatia but peace eluded him in Bosnia. His strategy in
Bosnia was the subject of considerable controversy. Vance felt strongly
that negotiations were the only way to halt Serbian advances, rejecting
critics who argued that his tactics amounted to appeasement of an aggressor.
He quit in despair after struggling with the Bosnian conflict for almost
a year. Soon he plunged into peacemaking:
between rival creditors of a debt-ridden commercial real estate firm with
extensive holdings in New York City. Vance helped the parties reach a settlement
in July 1993. Vance retired several years later, when Alzheimer's disease
began to curtail his activities Cyrus
Roberts Vance was born in Clarksburg WV, on 27 March 1917. After graduating
with honors from Yale Law School in 1942, he entered the US Navy, serving
as a gunnery officer in the Pacific during World War II. A year after his
discharge from the Navy in 1946, he married Grace Elsie Sloane, of a prominent
family specializing in home furnishings. He joined the New York law firm
of Simpson, Thatcher and Bartlett, with which he maintained a relationship
for decades. Vance entered civilian government service for the first time
in 1957 when he served as special counsel for Senate Armed Service subcommittee
on preparedness. Vance became general counsel for the Defense Department
in 1961 during the Kennedy administration, working closely with then-Defense
Secretary Robert McNamara. He was appointed secretary of the Army in 1962,
and in January 1964 President Johnson named him deputy secretary of defense.
He became known in that role for his hawkish views on Vietnam. During his
three years of service as the No. 2 figure at the Pentagon, Vance was dispatched
by the White House on trouble shooting missions to Panama and the Dominican
Republic. Vance left the Defense Department
for health reasons in June 1967 but agreed at Johnson's request to go to
Detroit to help assess the cause of race riots in the city. By November
1967, he was leading a negotiating effort that helped head off a war between
Greece and Turkey over Cyprus. Over the next few months, he went on a peacekeeping
mission to Korea and helped develop a peace-keeping plan for Washington
D.C. following the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. During the last nine
months of the Johnson presidency, Vance served as deputy chief of the US
delegation to the Paris peace talks.
In 1975, Vance and social scientist Daniel Yankelovich founded Public Agenda,
a nonpartisan, nonprofit public opinion research and citizen education organization
based in New York City.2002 Five Russian aggressors in Chechnya.
Russia sent bombers and helicopters in aerial assaults against rebels in
Chechnya, pressing a campaign that has drawn renewed US allegations of rights
violations - and a sharp Kremlin retort to the US claims. An official in
Chechnya's Moscow-backed administration said today that Russian aircraft
bombed two areas in the breakaway republic over the previous 24 hours, while
helicopters struck another region and artillery was used elsewhere. Five
Russian soldiers and police officers were killed and five wounded in fighting
or land-mine explosions, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
He said more than 100 suspected rebels were detained in security sweeps.
On 10 January 2002 Russian troops lifted a blockade of Chechnya's third-largest
city, Argun, following a roundup of suspected rebels that prompted clashes
and protests by residents who claimed they were abused by Russian troops.
In Washington on 10 Jan 2002, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher
said, "The latest information on Russian operations in Chechnya indicates
a continuation of human rights violations and the use of overwhelming force
against civilian targets." He also said Moscow had failed to pursue contacts
with Chechen separatists to reach a peaceful settlement to the conflict.
In a Kremlin information office statement carried by the ITAR-Tass news
agency late on 11 Jan 2002, Russian President Vladimir Putin's administration
rejected Boucher's remarks and said it regretted the tone of his statement.
The ITAR-Tass report also quoted the chief prosecutor and the prime minister
in the Moscow-backed government of Chechnya as saying no human rights abuses
occurred during the Russian operations in Argun.2002 Mohammed
Shafique, 17, in Abbaspur near Rawalakot, about 150 km south of
Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, as Pakistani and Indian troops massed along the
disputed border in Kashmir exchange artillery and mortar fire. A 10-year-old
boy is wounded.2001 William Hewlett, 87, in Palo
Alto, co-founder (with David Packard) of Hewlett-Packard Company in a garage
on 01 January 1939. At his death, with $9 billion, he was the 26th wealthiest
person in the US.

1998 Ramón Sanpedro,
Galician Spaniard, suicide (before TV cameras) by drinking cyanide provided
to him by sympathizers of his 29-year vain effort for the law to allow him
assistance in suicide, ever since he was left a quadraplegic at age 25 when
he broke his neck diving. He was a sailor then. After the accident he became
a “right to die” celebrity and author of Cartas desde el
infierno (1996). The movie
Mar Adentro (2004) takes its name from one of his poems and
is a partly fictionalized story of his life.

1938 Oscar Florianus Bluemner, suicide, German US painter
born on 21 June 1867. .  MORE
ON BLUEMNER AT ART 4 JANUARYwith links to images.1933: 25 people, in
uprising of Guardia Civil in Spain. 1931 Giovanni Boldini,
Italian painter born on 31 December 1842.  MORE
ON BOLDINI AT ART 4 DECEMBERwith links to images.1912 Johannes Hermanus Barend
Koekkoek, Dutch painter born on 06 July 1840, dies on the 61st
anniversary of the death of his grandfather (see below). — more with
links to images.  MORE
ON JHB KOEKKOEK AT ART 4 JANUARYwith links to images. 1909 Hermann
Minkowski, of a ruptured appendix, Lithuania-born (22 June
1864) German mathematician. He developed a new view of space and time and
laid the mathematical foundation of the theory of relativity.
1897 Sir Isaac Pitman, English educator and inventor of shorthand,
born on 04 anuary 1813.1891 Gioacchino Toma, Italian
artist born on 24 January 1836. — more
with links to the story and images of a woman who was decapitated in 1800
by monarchists for having leaked their plot against the Republic of Naples.1888 Charles Edouard de Beaumont, French artist born in
1812.1852 Gioacchino Giuseppe Serangeli, French
(?!) artist born in 1768.1851 Johannes Hermanus Koekkoek,
Dutch marine painter born on 17 August 1778, founder of a dynasty of at
least 16 painters.  MORE
ON JH KOEKKOEK AT ART 4 JANUARYwith links to images.1839 Joseph Anton Koch,
Austrian painter born on 27 July 1768. — links to images. 
MORE
ON KOCH AT ART 4 JULYwith
links to images.1819 Pieter Gaal, Dutch artist born
in 1785.1717 Kaspar Jasper van Opstal, Flemish artist
born on 02 July 1654, 1655, or 1656.

^
1665 Pierre de Fermat, 63, French lawyer / mathematician
who is often called the founder of the modern theory of numbers. Together
with René Descartes, Fermat was one of the two leading mathematicians
of the first half of the 17th century. Independently of Descartes,
Fermat
discovered the fundamental principle of analytic geometry. His methods
for finding tangents to curves and their maximum and minimum points
led him to be regarded as the inventor of the differential calculus.
Through his correspondence with Blaise Pascal he was a co-founder
of the theory of probability.

1954
Howard
Allan Stern, controversial US radio and TV personality, media
mogul, humorist, actor, and author. —(070220)1951 Rush
Limbaugh, US influential dinosaurial conservative political
radio talk show host. —(070112) 1916 A. Pieter W Botha
Orange Free State, President of South Africa 1906 Hirsch,
mathematician. 1902 Ibn Abdul-Aziz Saud Kuwait,
king (Saudi Arabia)1895 King
Arthur,
by J. Comyns Carr, has its first performance (produced by Henry Irving,
at the Lyceum Theatre). At the time that Irving had commissioned Carr to
write the
play, Carr was specializing in Pre-Raphaelite
art as the director of the Grosvenor Gallery, so he had many visual
images of the Arthurian legends to draw from. For the production, Edward
Burne-Jones (28 Aug 1833  17 Jun 1898) did the artistic
design and Arthur Sullivan composed the music. Carr drew mainly from Sir
Thomas Malory's and Alfred Lord Tennyson's works.(Burne-Jones was a great
admirer of Malory's Morte D'Arthur). [Le Morte D'Arthur:
in
modern English _ in
middle English] [Tennyson's Enoch
Arden, &c. illustrated _ Idylls
of the King _ The
Lady of Shalott (with Pre-Raphaelite paintings) _ The
Princess: A Medley] 1893 Hermann Goering
Reichsmarshall/propaganda minister (Nazi Germany).1892 Kinno
Tanoue, Japanese woman, who would die on 30 November 2002.

^1876 John Griffith Chaney, who would be Jack
London, one of the best novelists to chronicle the last
wild western frontier of Alaska. Born
in San Francisco, he was the child of an unmarried mother who had come from
a once wealthy family that had fallen on hard times. It is believed that
his father was William Chaney, an itinerant journalist and lawyer whose
main claim to fame was his role in popularizing the American study of astrology.
However, Jack took the name of John London, a partially disabled Civil War
veteran his mother married in 1876, the year Jack was born. Growing up in
poverty, London nonetheless had a colorful adolescence filled with adventure
and excitement. From an early age,
London struggled to make a living, working in a cannery and as a sailor,
oyster pirate, and fish patroller. He also spent time as a hobo, riding
trains. During the national economic crisis of 1893, he joined a march of
unemployed workers and later spent a month in jail for vagrancy. After his
prison term, the 17-year-old London resolved to further his education. He
completed an entire high school equivalency course in one year and enrolled
at the University of California at Berkeley, where he read voraciously for
a year. He dropped out to join the 1897 gold rush in the Alaskan Klondike.
While in Alaska, London began writing stories about the region. In 1900,
his first collection of stories, The Son of the Wolf, was published. Three
years later, his story The Call of the Wild made him famous around the country.
London continued to write stories of adventure amid the harsh natural elements.
During his 17-year career, he wrote 50 fiction and nonfiction books. He
settled in Northern California about 1911, having already written most of
his best work. Before he reached the
age of 19, London sailed the Pacific on a whaling boat, hoboed around the
countryside, and joined Kelly's Army of unemployed protestors against American
economic inequality. When he was 19, he crammed a four-year high school
course into one year of intensive studies and enrolled at the University
of California at Berkeley. He quit college after only one year to join the
Klondike gold rush, but remained a voracious reader and student throughout
his life. Although his lasting claim
to fame came from his stories of the Alaskan gold frontier, London only
spent a brief time in the Klondike in the winter of 1897 searching for his
fortune. Like most gold seekers, London's prospecting efforts failed. However,
he returned to California with a trove of stories and tall tales that eventually
proved even more valuable. London published his first stories of the Alaskan
frontier in 1899, and he eventually produced over 50 volumes of short stories,
novels, and political essays. His 1903 novel about a domestic dog who joins
an Alaskan wolf pack, The Call of the Wild, brought him lasting fame and
reflected his beliefs in Social Darwinism. Interestingly, despite his identification
with rugged individualism and fierce competition, London was a committed
socialist and supporter of the American labor movement. Although his writing
was lucrative, London spent piles of money on an enormous house and ranching
operation in California; to pay for these, he wrote throughout his life.
Plagued by illnesses from an early age, London developed a kidney disease
of unknown origin and died on 22 November 1916 at only 40 years old. Recent
scholarship has discredited claims made by earlier biographers that London
was an alcoholic womanizer who took his own life.
Jack London's father, an astrologer surnamed Chaney, abandoned the family,
and his unwed mother, a spiritualist and music teacher, married a Mr. London,
whose last name. Jack assumed. From the age of 14, London dropped out of
school and struggled to make a living, working in a cannery and as a sailor,
oyster pirate, and fish patroller.
During the national economic crisis of 1893, he joined a march of unemployed
workers. He was jailed for vagrancy for a month, during which time he decided
to go to college. The 17-year-old London completed a high school equivalency
course and enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, where he
read voraciously for a year. However, he dropped out to join the 1897 gold
rush. While in the Klondike, London
began submitting stories to magazines. In 1900, his first collection of
stories, The
Son of the Wolf, was published. Three years later, his story
The Call of the Wild made him famous around the country. London
continued to write stories of adventure amid the harsh natural elements.
He sailed a ketch to the South Pacific, telling of his adventures in The
Cruise of the Snark (1911). During his 17-year career, he wrote
50 fiction and nonfiction books. He settled in northern California about
1911, having already written most of his best work. The
optimism and energy with which he attacked his task are best conveyed in
his autobiographical novel Martin
Eden (1909), perhaps his most enduring work. He wrote two other
autobiographical novels of considerable interest: The
Road (1907) and John
Barleycorn (1913). Although
Jack London became the highest-paid writer in the United States, his earnings
never matched his expenditures, so that his hastily written output is of
uneven quality. His Alaskan stories The
Call of the Wild (1903), White
Fang (1906), and Burning
Daylight (1910), in which he dramatized in turn atavism, adaptability,
and the appeal of the wilderness, are outstanding. Other important works
are The
Sea-Wolf (1904), which features a Nietzschean superman hero, and
The
Iron Heel (1907), a fantasy of the future that is a terrifying
anticipation of fascism.

White Fang —
Summary Two men are out in
the wild of the north. Their dogs disappear as they are lured by a she-wolf
and eaten by the pack. They only have three bullets left and Bill, one of
the men, uses them to try to save one of their dogs; he misses and is eaten
with the dog. Only Henry and two dogs are left; he makes a fire, trying
to drive away the wolves. They draw in close and he is almost eaten, saved
only by a company of men who were traveling nearby.
The wolves are in the midst of a famine. They continue on, lead by several
wolves alongside the she-wolf, and when they finally find food the pack
starts to split up. The she-wolf mates with one of the wolves and has a
litter of pups. Only one survives after several more famines, and he grows
strong and is a feisty pup. They come
to an Indian village where the she-wolf's (who is actually half-wolf, half-dog)
master is. He catches her again and White Fang, her pup, stays nearby. Soon,
she is sold to another Indian, while White Fang stays with Gray Beaver,
her master. The other dogs of the village terrorize White Fang, especially
one named Lip-lip. White Fang becomes
more and more vicious, encouraged by his master. He kills other dogs. Gray
Beaver goes to Fort Yukon to trade and discovers whiskey. White Fang is
passed into the hands of Beauty Smith, a monster of a man. He fights other
dogs until he meets his match in a bulldog and is saved only by a man named
Scott. Scott tames White Fang and
takes him back to California with him. There White Fang learns to love his
master and his master's family and even saves Scott's father from a criminal
that escaped from the nearby prison. White Fang has puppies with Collie,
one of the master's dogs, and lives a happy life.

JACK LONDON ONLINE:

The Acorn-Planter (1916) A play about the Nishinam tribe
and their encounter with explorers.

Sainte Tatiana est une martyre romaine du IIIe siècle, devenue très populaire
dans les pays slaves.
TIDBITS FROM TINIBRAINLAND:
A Tinibrainer motorist calls the police by cell
phone: Someone has stolen my car's dashboard, the steering wheel, the brake
pedal, and even the accelerator!" After arriving on the scene, the Tinibrainer
police officer writes up a full report, omitting only one detail. The officer
hadn't noticed that the motorist was sitting in the back seat.